Bloated Goat by Manley Peterson

Genre: Children
Publisher: Manley Peterson
Release Date: September 2010
Format: EBook

When Granny Hammy discovers Bloated Goat has died, her grandson Cocky Doodle is devastated. Bloated Goat was his best friend. He insists they give him the proper send off. So Granny and Cocky set off on an adventure their friend would have appreciated.

Along the way they run into all kinds of zany characters from a skunk who is anxious to get married to mobsters and some very hungry animals willing to fulfill their hunger by eating each other. I don’t want to give anything away, but suffice it to say, there are many crazy side stories and secondary characters to keep both children and adults interested.

I never review children’s books and haven’t read any since…well, since I was a child… but this was cute. It even makes adults smile. Anything that gives you laughs for a few hours can’t be a bad thing. Manley Peterson’s sense of humor flows through this book in an entertaining and sometimes even a silly way. If you’re a fan of the Shrek movies, I think you’ll enjoy this book. It’s written in the same vein as the movies.






For reading challenge:

ARC Reading challenge
EBook Reading Challenge
A to Z Reading Challenge
What an animal reading challenge

Happy Hour by Michele Scott

Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 978-1449505578
Publisher: D'Vine Press
Date of publish: Oct 31, 2009

This is the story of four women dealing with all the obstacles life throws in their paths from divorce to children to death to families. When the women become friends, they decide to meet twice a month on a Sunday and share their innermost secrets and problems as well as a few glasses of wine and some good food.

Jamie is the editor-in-chief of a wine magazine. When tragedy strikes, she’s left with a very small income, a daughter to raise and a senile mother-in-law.

Kat and her second husband Christian are busy juggling their restaurant and a very dysfunctional family. Their children from previous marriages are more than a handful and Kat is afraid they will end up destroying her marriage.

Danielle is a vintner whose husband walked out on her to begin a life with a new family. She’s left to raise her two teenage daughters, but she’s thrown for a loop when her daughter, Shannon, returns from college with news that rocks Danielle’s world.

Alyssa is an artist and gallery owner who is desperately running from her past. Just as she’s about to get married, her past is thrown in her face and turns her world upside down.

These four women are friends dealing with real life problems. Sometimes they confide in each other and other times they try to handle things on their own. In either case, they have more than they can handle.

This is the first book I’ve read by Michele Scott. She also writes the “Wine Lover’s Mystery Series” which I have in my TBR. If this book is any indication of her writing, I know I’m going to love her cozy mystery series. Her words flow beautifully on each page and her characters are very realistic. These women are believable and readers will truly care what happens to them. By the time the book was finished, I was sad to leave my newfound friends. I really do hope there is a sequel to this book. I want to find out what happens next in these women’s lives.

This book was truly special so I’m giving it my Socrates’ Great Book Alert medal.



And this is the first book that I'm using my new ratings system and it gets 5 kitty cats!






For Reading Challenge…

A to Z Reading Challenge
Chick Lit Reading Challenge

Sundays at Tiffany’s by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet

Genre: Fiction, Romance

Jane Margaux had a lonely childhood. Her mother, a Broadway producer, was more interested in her next production than her daughter. Jane’s father remarried and had a new family, which didn’t include Jane. In her loneliness Jane creates an imaginary friend, Michael. Michael is a handsome man who is always there for Jane, making her feel safe, secure and loved. Then, when she turns 9 years old, he leaves. His work is done.

Today, Jane is a grown woman who writes her own theatrical productions. Her play “Thank Heavens” is a huge success. Nobody realizes it’s based on her own childhood relationship with Michael. The play is about to become a major motion picture, but she has major creative clashes with her mother and her current actor boyfriend, Hugh. Hugh expects to be cast in the role of Michael, but Jane has other ideas. In her heart, she knows he isn’t the right person for the part even if her mother disagrees. After a huge fight with both her mother and Hugh, Jane once again runs into her imaginary friend Michael. Jane starts to doubt her own sanity.

This is truly a magical story. Jane and Michael come to life and give readers characters to deeply care about. As the story unfolds, readers will be cheering for Jane to finally win and have a happy, fulfilling life. Michael is a man every woman would love to have in their lives or is he too good to be true? Patterson and Charbonnet do a beautiful job in describing both the setting and developing the characters. It is a story that will stick with you long after the last page is turned.


For reading challenge: A to Z Reading Challenge

Any Given Doomsday by Lori Handeland

Genre: Paranormal

Former cop, Elizabeth Phoenix, lost everything that mattered to her – a great job, her partner and the man she loved. The reason for all her loss seems to stem from her psychic powers. She accepts a bartending job at the bar belonging to her partner’s widow, Megan. Megan has no ill feelings toward Elizabeth and counts her as a dear friend.

Elizabeth’s losses mount when she finds her foster mother, Ruthie, dead. Something attacks Elizabeth and she’s found unconscious next to the body. When she awakens, she learns the number one suspect in Ruthie’s murder is Elizabeth’s one true love, Jimmy Sanducci. To add to Elizabeth’s concerns, she learns the end of the world is near and she’s the only one that can save it.

Besides her psychic powers, Elizabeth begins to inherit supernatural powers from many different places. She goes through a brief training program with the sexy Sawyer to learn how to use these powers for the greater good.

The story leads to one huge battle as Elizabeth struggles to save, not only herself, but the world.

It’s been a long time since I read a paranormal and this was a good one. The story kept me hooked. It was a fast-paced story filled with demons, adventure, a touch of humor, and lots of sex. Parts of it were on the campy side, but it didn’t hamper my enjoyment of the book. My only problem was the two men in Elizabeth’s life – Jimmy and Sawyer. I didn’t find either one of them particularly lovable and both pretty much raped her in their own way. I couldn’t understand why she’d care about either one of them as the story moved along. That aside, I’m definitely interested in reading more of this series and will pick up book #2 when it’s released.